Dragonmarsh

I’m really fascinated by this place. The staff is very friendly and very helpful. I go about every other month for a reading and buy candles. Eric is so gifted with reading cards, you say nothing and he tells you everything and then it’s discussion time. Thank you God for Eric, he is truly a blessing.
I’m especially amazed at the Empowered candle selection. My daughter was out of work for a good 8 months and couldn’t find work. After a reading, I asked about what I could use to help with some luck in my daughter getting a job. The lady suggested a 7 day green candle with the green employment special oil. I said a prayer for my daughter, my job and my finances, I then put a request note under the candle and put a couple of drops of the special oil inside the candle (not on the wick) before lighting it and then I lit it. Shortly after (no lie) my daughter literally got a job and is still working today.

My go to store for all my Magickal needs AND wants! I LOVE this store! I’ve met 95% of the employees here & so far every single person is always so helpful & know what they’re talking about, if they don’t they ask another employee who does. The location is beautiful but once you go inside you forget where you were to begin with! They have everything you could needs plus more & if it’s not their they can order it, if it’s legally orderable! lol I love everyone here & enjoy speaking to everyone too, there’s so much to learn when you come here & everyone offers something great! The vibes are positive & with familiars like pepper running around, it makes you want to pop in just to say or enjoy great conversation… which leads to picking something up, & what ever you pick up u always leave satisfied! Great prices! Housemade teas, oils, perfumes, stone necklaces, & all pristine & high class! Love u dragonmarsh!

Went to open an ¹⁄₈ oz of pure geranium oil I had my sister pick up for me last time she went and it shattered in half in my hands. Needless to say I’m not pleased.

Very kind people and so willing to help customer service is amazing and they have awesome essential oils, soaps, candles, ect. I am a big mineral fan and my only beef if that their minerals are incredibly expensive. Especially the bismuth which isn’t even naturally occurring but still waaaay too expensive. For all other things they are awesome though. If you want minerals I would honestly just stick to Ebay and Etsy.

Amazing store with great employees! Always helpful, knowledgeable, and judgment-​free! They always have the hard to find items that similar stores lack. Dragonmarsh is my go-​to place, for anything I need for spells, candle magic, crystals, or herbal teas!

Ahhh this place, I am so lucky to live down the street from it. Such a great collection of candles, herbs, jewelry, tea, etc. The staff is extremely helpful and outgoing. Plus, Pepper is adorable and a good host. :) Love this place, would recommend to anyone.

I originally found Dragonmarsh at Pagan Fest a few years ago where I fell in love with their teas. They have a huge selection of natural teas and herbal blends that I trust not to have all those icky pesticides or processed chemicals in. I recently attended a class here (Tasty Tea Tasting) and it was a really fun experience! The woman running the class was very nice as well as informative. We had 11 different blends and learned about everything from how the different types of tea are made to brewing techniques. Afterwards I was able to buy a new infuser and a delicious bag of Mandarin Vanilla Tea with an appreciated discount for attending the class. I will definitely be attending more classes here in the future.
But enough of the tea talk (sorry, I’m totally obsessed)! They also have a wide range of stones, herbs, candles, and essential oils. Although Dragonmarsh is a 45 minute drive, the awesome knowledgeable and helpful employees and the wide variety of products in stock are worth the trip.

Wish I knew what those darn fairies mixed up into my tea! It’s really good I’ll have to remember to get more the next time I’m in town!
The store is really a gem. Anytime I’m in the riverside area I make a stop, even though I don’t need anything in there (as I don’t practice Wicca or anything with spells for that matter), but it’s always nice to go in, look around, pick up some essential oils, look At their awesome selection of rocks, get some teas, and buy a couple packs of incense… green tea is my favorite scent !
Anyways ! This store is awesome! The staff is super friendly and helpful.
It’s air conditioned
They have really pretty things to look at…
Things are priced exactly at what I would think is appropriate and fair. So stop by !
Ps dragonmarsh: if you read this, not sure if you already do this… but it would be great if you had a way for people to try out a tea! Like at the tea stores in the mall !!

Great store, I could have stayed looking for hours. Very nice staff, their selection of herbs and crystals is huge. I’ve heard of the store for months, I’m very glad I stopped by. I will definitely visit again.

This place is super cool! The staff is super friendly and you don’t feel pressured to buy anything. They are very knowledgeable and will chat with you forever if you want them to. I live in San Diego and you don’t find great customer service at any of the shops in SD like you do. Love love love this place!

Dragonmarsh is your best bet when you’re looking for spell supplies, essential oils, herbs, loose teas, crystals, and just about anything that is hard to find in a «normal» setting. I have been coming here since I was a child, with my mother. There is no real alternative to this place– it’s fantastic!
The staff here are friendly and can sometimes come off strong, but it’s not in a bad sense. They just want to help you find what you need and answer any questions you have. They also hold different classes and if I’m not mistaken, they do readings here occasionally.

I’ll come here from time to time to pick up crystals and stones to make my jewlery. The staff are very poliet and have so much knowledge on anything and EVERYTHING in that store! As for their herbs and teas, they have an amazing collection (coming from a heavy tea drinker) it really gained biug personal kudos for me!

Love coming here for my oils and Incense. Yeah you might find things cheaper on Amazon but I like the fact that I am supporting a small local business. Everyone that works here has always been friendly and helpful. Their classes are fun and informative. #dragonmarshforever

I’ve loved this store since I was a little girl. Its was always the highlight of my downtown trips. Its always been a magical place. The people there are very friendly and the place always smells of lovely herbs or confections they offer their patrons.
As an adult I have an even larger appreciation for their shop. Now knowing its more than just pretty fantasy items, which I also enjoy admiring very much. (the craftsmanship of their jewelry and swords and accessories are exquisite.)
It’s a place where anyone can find wonderful resources for not only new age practices, obtaining garb for a faire or finding a gift for someone but, as i found out recently, also other healthful items as well. I love their herbs, tea and essential oil and flower essences they have available.
I’ve been using the flower essences recommended to me by one of the ladies who is a founder of their store. She was very knowledgable and helpful. The flower essences have been very beneficial to me so far.
I was also introduced their newest resident store cat Pepper. I think its wonderful they help to rescue cats as they find them roaming the streets.
The store is inviting and a great place to visit if you decide to check out downtown riverside. I hope they stay in business for a long time! Thank you for being a part of my hometown’s history.

Came here to get oils for a citronella candle. They have a very large selection of oils and everyone was very helpful. Will definitely come back!

I love this store. It’s the only metaphysical store around that has survived the economy. Their selection is amazing and they always have new things. I visit them at least twice a month and am always surprised when I go in. They have a huge selection of premade oils and specialty oils and their herb supply is hard to beat.
They carry incense, soaps, cauldrons, stones, jewelry, books, candles, and even costume supplies. If you need a handfasting, they can even take care of that.
I also love the fact they do layaway. This has become my favorite store. No question.

This place has a very unique selection of spices, herbs, rocks, gems, and so on. They had a 50% off table with hand made Christmas ornaments where I found a witches hat for our tree.

I have been a customer of this little store for years. I keep coming back because they stock the neatest merchandise (that no one else has)– like mystical calendars, spell packets, crystals and faire jewelry. The owner also does custom costumery. I ordered a formal gown from her for a medieval-​themed wedding and I wound up looking more awesome than the bride — oops! It’s been years (and the couple split) but people still remember my dress. I always feel good shopping here and look forward to my next custom outfit… pirate wench???

I do like this store and the selection, but the customer service is bipolar! The first time I came in, the salesperson (I think it is possible the person was ftm trans so I am avoiding using pronouns because I don’t want to pigeonhole. If he/​she is not trans, I sincerely apologize) was just completely all over me and even stood just a few inches from me while chatting me up about what they like, really invading personal space and not giving me a chance to look at the products. I guess the person really wanted some attention??? Just really off-​putting. Not the «don’t shoplift in the store» tactic at all, just a person who went too far suggesting everything that I should buy and I felt I was being hurried along and couldn’t look.
The second time I came, I was ready with a list of herbs and fragrance oils I wanted to buy. I wanted to ask about their herb and tea classes too. I had the baby resting in the stroller. There were two women organizing products inside the open door. As I drew near, no joke, the younger one looked right at me and said, «Uh oh.» And rolled her eyes with a heavy «oh my god» type sigh as if she did not want a customer (or just didn’t want me in particular?) to come in. She hurried away from me.
I entered and said, «Hello, good morning» in a friendly voice to the two ladies and received NO response, not even a glance. They ignored me for five minutes while I looked at what I wanted to buy. The «uh oh» eye roller went into a back room and closed the door.
Now please remember that I am an average middle class mom, a nerd, dressed neatly but nothing fancy I guess. I do not look like someone who might cause trouble or steal from you. (And even if I did look like a homeless person or someone who is difficult to help for whatever reason she thought, everyone still deserves basic courtesy and it still should not warrant that kind of a rude attitude before I even came in.) Was it because I had a sleeping baby in a stroller? There is nothing in danger of being grabbed or broken and walkways are quite sufficient for strollers here (take some notes, Tiggywinkles!) Do I not, like, look right or something? Was there something weird on my face? My fly open? Did I have b.o. Nope, none of the above… Wth man?
Willing to let that pass and chalk it up to poor social skills, I went to find help. When I approached the elder of the two women who was on the other side of the store from me, I still felt she didn’t really feel happy to answer a question or two about things. I tried asking her about what kind of glass bottles they carry for oils and if it was possible to get a 2 oz glass sprayer bottle. The lady really gave off this impression that she would rather not speak to me at all. Bad vibes, man. I gave up and left. On the way out I checked to see if maybe they were closed and I came in at the wrong time? But no, open hours.
I can just buy what I want on the internet or at Mother’s Market I guess. I never feel so unwelcome there. As a wise woman once said, «ain’t nobody got time (or in this case, thyme?) for that.»
Dragonmarsh, I realize that you folks are running a store that’s a bit alternative and so you may be employing some individuals who are different and quirky. There is no problem with that, but please brush up on your customer service if you want to make money. I had $ 100 to spend each time I came in and your poor service lost both sales. Here are some tips. I consider these no-​brainers but hey:
1. Give a friendly greeting when people enter. Never make negative or annoyed comments on the sales floor, especially about a potential customer.
2. See if the customer needs help finding anything. If they are just browsing, suggest 1 or 2 items and then allow them a little space. Give at least 5 feet and don’t just STARE. Even if watching to prevent shoplifting, no need to invade a person’s 2 foot space bubble or touch them while chatting with them. No need to keep talking.
3. If a customer does need help finding a product, show them to the herbs or oils with a cheerful, ready to help you attitude. Please remember that the customer’s purchase pays your paycheck.
4. Please try to treat all who come in with the same cheerfulness or at least courtesy. A simple smile and «hello, hi there» lets them know you are watching and ready to help.
5. Try visiting different kinds of stores and see what their service tactics feel like to you. Choose a happy medium somewhere between a used car salesman with rapid fire sales spiels and «hellooo… (cricket sounds)… isn’t there anybody here to help?»

Oils, Spices, & Everything Nices … Oh. AND A Controversial Legal Battle Over Racism
SITREP
When walking this part of Riverside, I have slight reminisce of being in Old Sacramento. Not quite. But kinda. Elegant older stores in older buildings, though, is definitely the norm here.
This historic area of Riverside features some dynamic older structures — such as the Mission Inn, the Old City Hall, the DeAnza Hotel, the Jackson Building, and the Harada House. These last two structures are of particular import, and I’ll get into the history of them in a bit, though for now, I will mention that DRAGONMARSH — this sweet, quaint, larger store-​version of a Renaissance Faire Booth — is epically housed inside the Jackson Building.
ITEMS OF NOTE
There are so many wonderful items to be gotten here. I was lucky that owner SAGE — an extremely personable and pleasant gentleman with a shared interest in Ren Faires, Swords, Mystical Potions, and a seller of Special Teas & Fragrant Incense — had time to share with me his wares.
Besides the above items, there are also:
* Fabrics with 15 different patterns of skulls, or skulls & crossbones, or… more skulls!
* Witches Hats!
* Wizards Wands (You’d like these, Joe K.)
* Cute knick-​knacks like miniature hour (minute?) glasses
And lots of other cool stuff that would make fun stuff at a SciFi meet-​up or Animé convention.
But there’s definitely more to this place, and for a moment, I definitely felt like I was a kid looking for mushrooms, and accidentally stumbling onto hallowed Indian Burial grounds…
LOST CULTURE
As time marches on, there are heart-​wrenching stories of communities of people, immigrants from other lands, finding homes, founding businesses, and establishing a new life for themselves and their families. The beginning of the Asian American community in Riverside is barely documented, but it started — as much with this region did — in agriculture, and in Riverside specifically, with citrus.
Large communities of both Chinese & Japanese immigrants lived in Riverside as early as the 1880s, and yet merely 40 years later by the Roaring 20s, had nearly vanished because of the intense bigotry against them. And for the Japanese-​Americans, their numbers were further decimated by that ugly chapter in American history with their forced removal to internment camps during WWII.
THE HARADA HOUSE
One barometer of this ethnic pressure centered around this building that Dragonmarsh is in — known now as the Jackson Building — and the man who owned the business here back in the early 20^th Century. Both his business, and his home that he (tried) to by in Riverside became a legal controversy:
From the UC Riverside Asian American website:
«In 1915, Riverside became the stage for a challenge to the Alien Land Law when Issei (first-​generation, immigrant Japanese) restaurant owner Jukichi Harada bought a home in downtown Riverside in his Nisei (second generation, American-​born) children’s names. His new neighbors– mostly White– resisted his presence, first trying to buy him out and then taking him to court.
The case went all the way to the California Superior Court as The People of the State of California vs Jukichi Harada and was eventually decided in favor of the Haradas. The Harada house (built in 1884) still stands at 3356 Lemon Street and was designated a National Historic Landmark (by the National Park Service and the U.S. Department of the Interior) in 1990.»
And here I thought I was just going to look at some Ren Faire knick-​knacks.
THE LOWDOWN
A terrific store with all sorts of eclectic items for the Ren Faire /​SciFi-​Fantasy enthusiasts, standing within the hallowed ground of one this state’s most controvesial legal battles over racism.